Following in the footsteps of his former sports director George Plaster, Willy Daunic, longtime host of the Nashville Predators pre- and post-game radio shows, has left 104.5 The Zone, according to this report by J.R. Lind at the Nashville Post:

According to a statement, Daunic's contract expired Aug. 31 and he and the station have been unable to come to terms. He has been the main host of the afternoon Allstate Sports Zone since Plaster left Sept. 19, along with co-host Chad Withrow. Thursday, Withrow was joined by Three Hour Lunch co-host Brent Daugherty.

The statement says Daunic's future in sports talk is uncertain, but he will continue to host the Predators pre- and post-game shows, locally broadcast on new sports talk launch 102.5 The Game.

What does the future hold for Willy? Who knows, but you'd have to think that with 102.5 ramping up their game, there's room in their schedule to add even more seasoned local talent...

Glad that Willy will remain with the PREDS radio team. I wouldn't mind to hear him more in the morning on The Game, especially after Brad Hopkins mentioned that the PREDS "brought in Brent Lebda for the new season" and that "more local people would come out to games if native DEFENSEMAN Blake Geoffrion was in the lineup". I do think that Coach Trotz did a great job on his first "Coffee With the Coach" program yesterday.

Ryan Ellis comes in at #37 in HF's top 50 prospects. Only 31-50 have been released so far. Who else makes the list, if any? Blum, Beck, Josi, Ekholm, Smith? Smith might be too recent of a breakout to make it this time.

It's odd that they haven't updated our current rankings though. (or have they?)

What's up with the Preds reporting today? Smear on the cover of the Tennessean, and now I see a preview for an investigative story on channel 5 about "The Preds took millions of dollars from taxpayers and metro didn't know about it"...

it's getting old, I have a feeling there's another crabby council member behind this and an all-to-happy-to-report Tennessean that is giving them an outlet.